Half Marathon a Month Challenge #39 - Alloa - March 2017

Alloa Half Marathon - 19th March 2017

This was the second year in a row that we had taken part in the famous Alloa Half Marathon. Although there are a couple of February events (see previous post on Strathaven) March is the month where the running season in the Scotland really takes off, and this particular half marathon has become a very popular day out for runners.

Once again I picked up Chris in the car en route to Alloa and we made our way to the start. I took the usual selfie, featuring bin bag.

At the start line itself the crowds gathered. It wasn't quite as sunny as the previous year but at least it was dry. It was windy though, and this was to become a big factor in the race.

In the previous year's event I had struggled quite early on (at around 8km in) and had to employ a walk/run strategy for the remainder of the race. This time I decided I would just take things easy from the start and see if I could keep running for the whole distance. All was going swimmingly until we took the usual left turn at Tillicoultry and (literally) ran up against a fierce westerly wind.

While not being the worst wind conditions experienced during a running event (Cumbrae and Kilmacolm share that honour), this was 4 miles of constant headwind which made it feel as if you were running uphill for that entire distance.

No matter. I resolved to continue with my all running approach and it ended up that this was the first time since September 2015 that I had run an entire 21.1km without walking. So, although my time wasn't particularly great (15 seconds slower than 2016), I was quite pleased with that aspect of my performance. 

Interestingly I was to run the Ganavan Sands Parkrun in Oban the following weekend in my Alloa Half M t-shirt, and someone there said that she had run Alloa too. It was the first time she had ever taken over 2 hours for a half marathon and she put the blame exclusively on running into that strong headwind for 4 miles.

Next up, Mallaig, and 'The Road To The Isles' Half Marathon.

Results:
Chris -  02:17:19
Frank - 02:20:47